Hey everyone! Here's chapter 12!
Fiery Pancake: Thank you! I'm glad it has come across as accurate. It's one of those situations that's very difficult to write and to portray correctly, so I'm happy that it is accurate. It is disturbing to think of a young child doing something so extreme and to have knowledge of such a situation, but luckily it's highly uncommon and will hopefully remain uncommon. I'm glad you're enjoying the story :)
Crysteldragon: I'm sorry! I hope your last day of schools goes/went well! Hope you're enjoying the story despite all the feels haha :)
I've started working on the sequel to Childlike, and I'm really excited about it. I don't know when I'll start posting chapters for that, but probably around August or September. Childlike is almost done!
Please continue to read and review! I really appreciate it!
Thank you! Have a nice day!
- Hunter
The next day, everyone was a bit more settled after the events of the previous day. They had begun to have time to process what had happened, but it still seemed unreal to them. It was hard for them to grasp the idea that their friend was so sad and so emotionally damaged that he would go to the extent of trying to kill himself. On top of that, he was only six years old. People who are that young shouldn't even know what suicide is yet, let alone attempt it with such close success. Nonetheless, he had attempted, and now they needed to try to understand why he did it, but more importantly, they needed him to talk to them about it so he could start working out whatever was going on inside of his mind.
After Robin, Starfire, and Raven awoke, they got themselves cleaned up and ready before heading down to the Medbay. They wanted to seem strong for the boy to make him feel safe and secure. When they each reached the Medbay, they found Garfield and Cyborg snacking on sandwiches and sipping on water. They both looked exhausted, with deep, dark bags under their bloodshot eyes. Garfield was sitting up in his medical bed, but was still secured down to the bed in the case that he wanted to escape. He still had an IV line in him, but the majority of the other medical equipment had been removed from his small body considering he was now deemed physically stable enough. His wrists, having obtained such significant injury, made eating his sandwich difficult, so he had barely made a dent in the snack. Cyborg was sitting in the chair next to him, munching away on his snack. They were both silent as they ate and drank, not engaging in any conversation.
"Hey," Cyborg said when he saw the teens enter the room.
"Good morning friends Cyborg and Garfield!" Starfire beamed, trying to be as cheerful as possible.
"I made y'all some sandwiches too, if ya want them," Cyborg said, pointing to a table across the room.
"Thanks," Robin said as the three of them went to go receive their sandwiches. They each took a seat near Garfield's bed and starting eating their snack. They discovered that they were peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches. Robin, who sat next to Cyborg, quietly asked him a question.
"When did you make the sandwiches?" He asked, confused at when Cyborg could have found a good time to leave the recovering boy alone.
"I woke about an hour before him, and I figured since he was asleep and strapped down, I'd have a few minutes to spare to go up to the kitchen and make some snacks," he responded. "He's having trouble moving his lower arms and hands, but he's making progress." He was glad to see that he was willingly eating something, and that he was starting to gain better movement in his arms and hands despite the injuries.
The teens soon finished their sandwiches and there was a certain emptiness that filled the atmosphere. Deciding that it may be a good time to prompt conversation from Garfield, Robin spoke up.
"So, Garfield," Robin said, catching the boy's attention.
Garfield was no longer completely avoiding eye contact today. He would look at the person speaking to him, but couldn't look them straight in the eyes for long.
"We still need to talk about what happened, and waiting much longer is just going to make it harder," Robin said. Garfield gulped, nervous about the impending conversation. Ever since he had woken up from anesthesia the day before, he had been dreading this conversation, knowing that it would have to happen eventually.
"It will be okay, Garfield. You can tell us anything," Starfire said calmly and lovingly to the boy, trying to ease his tension. When he didn't speak up after a second or two, she spoke again. "Do you trust us?" Garfield nodded. He trusted them will all of his heart. They were just strangers to him, but they treated him as if he was family to them, and that meant the world to him.
"I don't know how to even start," Garfield said quietly. He could feel the nervousness brewing within him, and he was getting fidgety. The teens noticed this immediately. Cyborg laid a hand on the young boy's shoulder, calming him down.
"How about we start with the most important question, and then go from there. Why did you do it?" Raven asked. She felt going straightforward would be the easiest for all of them, rather than trying to beat around the bush. Cyborg rubbed the boy's shoulder, trying to show him that it was okay and safe. After a moment of silence, he spoke.
"I just couldn't take it anymore," he said quietly, not making eye contact with anyone, but rather staring at his lap.
"Couldn't take what anymore?" Raven asked him. Being the empath, the team felt that she would probably be the best to take lead in the conversation, although the others would speak up when they felt it was necessary.
"The sadness. It's too much," he said.
"But why are you sad? What happened to make you so sad?" she asked him again, trying to get the answers out of him. He said nothing, unwilling to explain.
"You said some things during…it…that were especially concerning to us," Robin spoke up, trying to ease the words out of the reluctant boy. "You said that they were wrong, and that they lied to you. Who are 'they'?"
Garfield took in Robin's words for a moment, letting it sink in. He didn't remember a lot of what he said during the attempt, so this was news for him. Garfield let out a sigh of air before explaining.
"Back home, in Africa, my friends tried to help me," he looked up at the teens, whose faces and eyes urged him to continue. "After my parent's died, they tried to make me feel better. They told me that it'd get better, and that I wouldn't be sad for long. But they lied."
"Your parents died?" Starfire asked, sorrow staining her voice at this new information. Garfield nodded.
"Yeah," he started, "A few months back, they went out on a boat trip to go get special medicine for me. I few weeks before that, I got bitten by a green monkey, and I almost died, but my dad gave me a shot with this medication that saved me. But it turned me green and made me change, so they wanted to try to find a special medication to make me normal again. The tribesmen thought that me and my family were cursed because of how I looked, and they were always mean to us," Garfield continued. He was still looking down at his lap as he talked, too shy to make eye contact at the moment. "My parents told me to not follow them when they went, but I followed anyway. The last time I saw them, they were going over the side of a waterfall on their boat. I tried to save them, but I couldn't. I failed," he had to pause for a moment to regain his composure before continuing. "When I got back to the village, I told them what happened. My friends tried to help me feel better, but most of the tribe turned their backs on me, and then my friends left me too. They said it was what I deserved for cursing the family," he sniffled as he finished explaining, but refused to let any tears flow.
The teens were speechless. They knew that something would have had to happen to him to make him feel so miserable, but they had no idea that it would something like that. It was tragic what the boy had been through, and he was only six years old. And to have his friends and entire community turn their backs on him during his time of need was insane to them. They couldn't fathom how someone could do that to him.
"Oh man…," Cyborg uttered quietly, taking in what he had just heard.
"Garfield, we are so very sorry to hear about that," Starfire said to him. She was in tears, unable to hold them back any longer.
"You didn't fail, Garfield," Raven said, referring to the death of his parents, "You couldn't have saved them. You did nothing wrong," The teens nodded in agreement.
"You said this happened a few months ago. What have you been doing since then?" Robin asked. Considering that the tribe had turned their backs on Garfield, he found it unlikely that he was still living with them.
"I'm not allowed back in the village, and when I do go back there every so often, they throw stones and other objects at me until I leave. They burned down my home and everything that my family owned. Luckily, before they did that, I was able to go back to the house and get a few belongings," he paused before continuing. "Now, I live in the jungle. I made myself a small fort under a tree. No one bothers me out there, so I'm safe," There was a silence in the room before anyone spoke up.
"How did you even know what to do, back down in the basement?" Robin asked him. He didn't understand how a six year old would know how to commit suicide.
"Last year, one of the tribesmen slit his wrist like that, and he died quickly," Garfield responded.
"You know that it will get better though, right? They didn't lie to you. It just takes time, sometimes a long time," Raven said to him. Garfield remained silent. He felt like he couldn't speak anymore. The team knew that he'd probably be unwilling to talk too much more.
"How about you get some rest, Garfield, okay?" Robin suggested to him, to which he nodded and immediately laid back down. He laid down on his side, facing the wall, back turned to everyone else.
"Cyborg, I will take watch now if that is okay with you," Raven requested. Cyborg nodded.
"Yeah, that's fine. Call me if you need me, okay?" he said. It hurt him so much to see his friend like this, and to know what kind of pain that he had been through felt unbearable. He couldn't imagine what it must feel like for Garfield, but he knew it couldn't be easy. Losing his family and then having his friends and community turn their backs on him must be a heavy burden for him. He has no one back home, and he's only a child.
The three teens headed out of the Medbay, and Raven took a seat next to Garfield. She couldn't rest though, so she sat there silently and meditated until her watch was over.
